• Getting there: Boonsboro is 65 miles northwest of Washington and 70 miles northwest of Baltimore. Several airlines fly nonstop from South Florida to Washington or Baltimore, a 2 ½-hour flight. Roundtrip airfare starts around $140 to Baltimore and $190 to Washington.

• Information: 301-791-3246 or 888-257-2600; www.marylandmemories.org.

WHERE TO STAY

• Nora Roberts' Inn BoonsBoro (1 N. Main St., Boonsboro, 301-432-1188, www.innboonsboro.com) has six rooms and two suites. Rooms are $220 to $280 Monday-Thursday and $250 to $300 Friday-Sunday, including breakfast. No children or pets.

• In nearby Sharpsburg, the Inn at Antietam B&B (220 E. Main St., Sharpsburg, 301-432-6601, www.innatantietam.com) has five suites. Prices are $120 to $160 Monday-Thursday, $145 to $185 Friday-Sunday.

WHERE TO EAT

• Roberts' son and daughter-in-law, Dan and Stacie Aufdem-Brinke, own Vesta Pizzeria & Family Restaurant (2 S. Main St., Boonsboro, 301-432-6166), which serves pizzas, huge salads and soft drinks, beer and wine.

• Across the street is Palettie (1 S. Main St., 301-432-0500), which serves bistro fare, including steak, pasta and quiche.

• Also in Boonsboro is Mountainside Deli (311 S. Main St., 301-432-6700), which opens weekdays at 6 a.m. for breakfast (8 a.m. Saturdays, 11 a.m. Sundays) and makes a killer pit beef sandwich (get the barbecue sauce and horseradish) for $5.25.

WHAT TO DO

• At Turn the Page Bookstore Cafe (18 N. Main St., 301-432-4588, www.ttpbooks.com), Roberts hosts book signings every few months. (The next one is July 11.) Next door, Gifts Inn BoonsBoro (16 N. Main St., 301-432-0090, www.giftsinnboonsboro.com) has three floors of local arts and crafts, including the scented toiletries from the inn.

• About eight miles from Boonsboro is Antietam National Battlefield (5831 Dunker Church Rd., Sharpsburg, 301-432-5124, www.nps.gov/anti), site of the bloodiest one-day battle of the Civil War. A small fee ($4 per person or $6 per family) gets you access to the signposted driving tour, the cemetery, monuments and movies, lectures and displays at the visitor center.

• Just south of Boonsboro on Gapland Road is Gathland State Park, once the mountain home of George Alfred Townsend, a Civil War journalist. It has War Correspondents Arch, a large, stone monument dedicated to war correspondents. The Appalachian Trail traverses the park, and there are Civil War re-enactments throughout the summer. www.dnr.state.md.us/publiclands/western/gathland.html.

-- CHRISTINA TALCOTT